Rabbi Seth Farber said the
unwillingness by both the Interior Ministry and Chief Rabbinate to trust Nina’s
three converting rabbis is a harbinger of worse things to come.

“It makes it clear that the
Rabbinate,” which the ministry consulted in this case, “plans to review almost
every Orthodox conversion ever performed in the U.S.” — should the convert wish
to live or be married in Israel.

American Orthodox rabbis
“ought to be up in arms over this latest development and formulating a strategy
for how to address this latest round of disenfranchisement,” Farber said.

The agencies’ refusals are
especially galling, Farber said, given that ITIM sued the Interior Ministry in
Israel’s High Court in 2011 and ultimately extracted a written commitment from
the ministry that it would not to consult the Rabbinate on issues relating to
aliyah except in “rare circumstances.”

This isn’t one of those
circumstances, Farber said.

“They committed to the
courts and to the Knesset that the Rabbinate wouldn’t be involved, and now
they’ve backed out of their agreement,” Farber noted.

I’m writing you today to beg
for more of your patience. I know you and your congregation, Birkat Shalom,
believed that winning an unprecedented verdict in May 2012 meant that you would
receive a state salary like all male Orthodox rabbis in the Gezer region.

Our
whole movement in Israel and abroad celebrated this achievement; however it is
now clear to me that the celebrations were premature.

We have just learned that
the state decided NOT to award you a salary for 2012 because you worked only
part time as Birkat Shalom’s rabbi. This is spectacular chutzpa.
The only reason you worked part time was that there were no financial
means to pay you for a full-time position.

But I know, as everyone does,
that you give much more than full-time; you give your all. The rule that
only full-time rabbis will be compensated by the state is an invention by
government bureaucrats wishing to circumvent the court’s verdict.

The High Court of Justice
demanded on Thursday that Rishon Lezion Chief Rabbi Yehuda David Wolpe explain
why he sends couples seeking to register for marriage to a private company for
clarifications about their Jewish ancestry.

ITIM, a religious rights
lobbying group, filed a petition with the court against Wolpe and the Am
Levadad company earlier this week. They have till March 10 to respond.

“It is unconscionable for a
municipal rabbi not to accept the authority of a rabbinical court,” said ITIM
director and Orthodox rabbi Seth Farber. “It’s an outrage that municipal and
state taxes go to pay his salary, and the State of Israel needs to have normal
marriage registration bureaus which are not controlled by renegade rabbis.

Rabbi David Stav: “What
Halacha dictates that a young couple seeking to get married must be treated
harshly?

What Halacha compels a
resident of Beersheva studying in Tel Aviv University to register with the
Rabbinate in Beersheva when Tel Aviv is infinitely more convenient for him/her?

What Halacha prohibits
accommodating the schedule of young people seeking to register for marriage?

What Halacha compels a
young couple to open their file exactly 90 days before the wedding instead of
six months if that better suits them?

Why can’t we assist the
immigrants from the Former Soviet Union? Yes, many of them must prove their
Jewish roots but instead of throwing a list of demands at them, why not use the
Chief Rabbinate’s vast resources and connections around the world to facilitate
that process? It would be in the interest of all”.

Rabbi Dov Halbertal: I am
speaking about the representatives of the different groups. Bennett has nothing
to do with being religious, just like Lapid. He is the same. We are not dealing
here with the individuals however, but the groups they represent.

The issue is the Chief
Rabbinate and religion and state. Rav Stav comes to ‘repair Yiddishkheit’ with
new ideas regarding giyur and what to do before marriage. He speaks about Rav
Ovadia and ‘those’ who do not permit Rav Ovadia to speak out. “Those sources”
was Maran Rav Elyashiv, the leading posek of the generation. Like I said, Rav
Stav seeks to change Halacha.

We hear the jingles
supporting Rabbi Stav’s candidacy. Why are there jingles for him and not Rav
Lau for example? Because Tzohar rabbis are liberal, modern and reform, and they
belong to the State of Tel Aviv, not here with us, in Yerushalayim.

“I definitely see an
opportunity for change, as the balance on issues of religion has changed,”said
Mickey Gitzin, a pro-pluralism activist who was deputy director of the election
campaign for the left-wing Meretz party. “Yair Lapid has taken away the
balancing position of Shas. This buys an opportunity.”

Anat Hoffman said that she
is “positive and optimistic” about the cause of civil marriage. And despite her
tense relationship with the Haredi community, she described the Yesh Atid’s
Haredi lawmaker, Dov Lipman, as “amazing” and “one very rare ultra-Orthodox
rabbi.”

When it comes to increasing
state funding for Reform and Conservative synagogues and religious movements …
Netanyahu’s Likud party, however, is expected to approve the money. “This is going
to be the easiest bone for Netanyahu to throw,” predicted Uri Regev, president
and CEO of Hiddush, an organization that pushes for pluralism.

According to Hiddush CEO
Rabbi Uri Regev, the fact that an overwhelming majority among Likud Beiteinu
voters supports a government that will advance freedom of religion and an equal
share of the burden shows that "the era in which haredi parties were
perceived as natural coalition partners is over."

Rachel Azaria: People want
ulpana [religious public girls’ high school] girls not to be out there. They
want them to be segregated and to stay within their own tribe, so to speak.
Someone who wants to cross boundaries and share and collaborate with another
tribe can be considered a threat. People get scared and punish this person to
try to bring things back to the way they were.

Ophir is crossing
boundaries and trying to be part of something larger, more pluralistic and
collaborative. Young people like her don’t want to live with these fences
anymore.

I understand the need for
modesty laws in religion and I appreciate any interpretation of any religion
that strives for modesty.

However, these modesty laws must be kept in check. In
Judaism we run the risk of taking these laws too far and then in an effort to
be modest, the misinterpretation of the laws cause immoral acts.

Banning a
female high school student from singing on a reality TV show is certainly an
example of this. Ben-Shetreet is a talented young girl with a beautiful voice.

Suspending her from school for two weeks in the name of her religion for doing
nothing wrong will have negative effects for her and countless other young
woman who want to embrace Judaism; not be shunned because of it.

The seemingly brave rabbis
in the Modern Orthodox community say the prohibition applies to sexualized singing
only. There are those who even say the law causes such emotional pain it
alienates women from religiosity altogether. All of these positions are made by
male rabbis and intended for male listeners. Where are women voices in this
conversation today?

If Naftali Bennett fails to
consult the rabbinic leadership before deciding his position on military
conscription for yeshiva students, the chairman of Habayit Hayehudi can say
goodbye to his political career, a senior rabbi in the religious-Zionist
community said Monday.

Rabbi Tzefania Drori, the
municipal rabbi of Kiryat Shmona, was speaking to Galei Israel, a regional
radio station that serves the West Bank settlements. Speaking on behalf of the
rabbis Drori said the leaders of Habayit Hayehudi "know full well that we
have to back them because without our support there’s no politics. That’s why
they have to listen. There’s no way any of them can make [their own]
agreements."

The Haredim waived the
benefits inherent in army service, but grew from a small minority to a major
social and political force with the help of government funding for yeshivas and
child allowances, while also joining the settlement project to benefit from
subsidized housing.

The State has two
interests: The first and most important interest is to increase the
ultra-Orthodox community's participation in the job market.

… The second interest is to
reduce inequality. This can be achieved only if the State significantly
shortens reserve duty for combat soldiers, which would necessitate the creation
of additional regular army combat units.

Enlisting all haredim just
for the "principle of the matter" may create expensive recruitment
tracks, and the benefit of these tracks would not outweigh their cost. This
would also do nothing to ease the real burden.

Shas spiritual leader Rabbi
Ovadia Yosef has urged President Shimon Peres to find a solution to the law
requiring yeshiva students to be drafted into the Israel Defense Forces,
warning it would cause a rift in the nation.

Comparing it to “the
unraveling of a ball of wool,” Efraim Halevy said the concept of sharing the
burden is profound and touches on many “interconnected” aspects of Israeli
society, like “the economy, the demand for gainful employment, the role of
women in society, rules of conduct in the public domain” and how to resolve the
Jewish status crisis for hundreds of thousands of Russian immigrants who live
in Israel but are not Jewish according to halacha, or religious law.

He said “it is no longer
possible to put off” issues affecting so many citizens living in limbo in terms
of their Jewishness, and that Jerusalem, however reluctant to deal with these
delicate religious and political matters, must make “courageous decisions.”

It is not tolerable, he
said, for Russian-speaking IDF soldiers to be denied burial in military
cemeteries in Israel or for would-be converts to be prevented from joining the
Jewish people because of the increasingly stringent standards of the Chief
Rabbinate.

In my humble opinion --
and, I believe, in the opinion of gedolei Yisrael -- what we have here is no
less than an existential threat to the chareidi community in particular and the
State of Israel in general. This is predicated on the deeply-held belief,
rooted in the Torah, the Gemara, and the assurances of great Torah leaders of
all generations, that Torah study literally shields the Jewish People from
harm.

"Religious and traditional
Jews will be able to watch soccer games, go shopping, see shows and take part
in Israeli leisure culture," he said. "The fact that the religious
population, which is generally busy with housework [to prepare for Shabbat],
would be able to go shopping on Sunday is important."

Jewish Home officials said
that the request was a “social initiative” that would benefit Sabbath-observant
families, who would have a day off to do non-Shabbat activities together like
traveling or visiting museums. Moreover, “such an initiative may also lead to a
longer school day during the week, and thus help women return to the
workplace.”

The source further said
that "the initiative is likely to lead to an extended school day during
the rest of the week, in a desire to facilities women integration into the
workforce; as well as foster religious publics' integration into Israeli
leisure cultural and activities," which had been unavailable to those who
observe Shabbat."

The number of unwed Israeli
couples living together is growing, according to a Central Bureau of Statistics
report released yesterday, although they still constitute only 5 percent of all
couples sharing a household.

According to Dyonna
Ginsburg, the Jewish Agency’s director of Jewish service learning, “there’s no
need for program providers and funders to present a rose-colored version of
Israel to our young people.

“Quite the contrary, we
should be looking for additional ways to present Israel as it really is.
Immersive Jewish Service-learning (IJSL) participants have not been shying away
from Israel based on their time there. They are clearly strengthening their
connections to [the country], their heritage and the Jewish people,” she said.